A number of factors and elements are involved in maintaining and servicing bodies of water, and many of them are interrelated. Examples of such factors include the economics of those efforts (costs of materials and equipment, labor costs, etc.), the degree of cleanliness desired, the location of the water with respect to trees and leaves and/or other contaminants, and others.
In many situations, it can be important for personnel to be quick and efficient in performing such service duties. Several factors can affect that speed and efficiency. Examples such as surface action and water clarity can be an issue when trying to gather and remove accumulated debris. Other factors can obscure the user's visibility through the water surface down to the location of the debris, and thus impair the user's service efforts or make them less efficient. Other examples of these factors include the tools used, the presence of wind, the presence of surface action, and other turbidity. Typically any of these can adversely affect the time required to clean and service a given body of water.
Most users, even professional servicemen, need or at least benefit from more clear water conditions to do a good job of cleaning. If water conditions are unfavorable many attempt, just prior to vacuuming, to influence water clarity by scrubbing the pool waterline (on the sidewalls of the pool) with tile soap. This produces soap bubbles or at least releases some soap/surfactants onto the water surface, which increases the water's surface tension and correspondingly reduces any ripples or other disturbances on the surface. This reaction tends to arrest some motion of the water and generally stills the water surface, improving viewing into the water by the serviceman standing on the pool deck or other surface adjacent the body of water.
Typically, however, to maintain that desired surface tension and visibility through the duration of the cleaning process, service personnel have to reapply soap-type solutions. Such personnel commonly use any of a range or combinations of multiple varieties and concentrations of soap or other surfactants. Commonly, service personnel use any bulk tile soap solution, and especially because it is a bulk solution, it can be easy for them to apply it in inappropriate concentrations or in inconsistent ways. Among other things, these products typically have corresponding multiple varieties of containers/bottles and opening tops, leading to further inconsistent applications and/or use of the soap. In addition, to avoid the need to frequently refill those containers, servicemen sometimes use larger, heavier bottles, but those frequently are so cumbersome that the user sets it down with his other tools as he is moving around the pool (standing on the deck or otherwise above the waterline), and thus has to make multiple trips back to get that container in order to reapply the solution to tools or the water surface at intervals during the cleaning process.
Servicemen frequently carry a separate bottle in one hand, and apply soap to a pole mounted scrubber in the other hand. Scrubbing is a two hand job and trying to carry a container while scrubbing does not allow the user to grip the pole well. Cooler weather can also affect solution density or viscosity. Substandard solutions and containers widely vary and become difficult to apply under these circumstances. Certain additives even obscure visibility when improperly applied. Excesses often fall into solution, sink to bottom surfaces or are unsafely spilled on slippery decks and surrounding surfaces. All of these and other problems with prior art systems and apparatus slow the user's efficiency in cleaning the pool or other body of water.
Thus, the present inventions are directed to improvements for the apparatus and methods of cleaning pools or similar bodies of water, including sequestering floating oils/light debris, controlling surface action and visibility, and provide apparatus and methods to safely and efficiently apply and maintain surfactants and/or other formulas in and on water surfaces, for cleaning or other purposes. Preferably, the inventions enhance surface visibility and speed the service and maintenance of bodies of water.